Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/37

 salt; whence it may be inferred that domestics from that part of the world were considered inferior.

Respecting the price of slaves, a passage occurs in the Memorabilia, where Socrates inquires whether friends were to be valued at so much per head, like slaves; some of whom, he says, were not worth a demimina, while others would fetch two, live, or even ten minæ; that is, the price varied from ten to two hundred dollars. Nicias bought an overseer for his silver mines at the prico, of B talent, or about twelve hundred dollars.

Exclusively of the fluctuations caused by the variations in the supply and demand, the market price of slaves was affected by their age, health, strength, beauty, natural abilities, mechanical ingenuity, and moral qualities. The meanest and cheapest class were those who worked in the mills, where mere bodily strength was required. A low value was set upon slaves who worked in the mines — a sum equal to about eight dollars. In the age of Demosthenes, ordinary house slaves, male or female, were valued at about the same price. Demosthenes considered two minæ and a half, fifty dollars, a large sum for a person of this class. Of the sword cutlers possessed by the orator's father, some were valued at six minæ, others at five, while the lowest were worth above three. Chairmakers sold for about two minæ, forty dollars. The wages of slaves, when let out for hire by their masters, varied greatly, as did the profit derived from them. Expert manufacturers of fine goods produced their owners much larger returns than miners.

Slaves at Athens were divided into two classes, private and public. The latter, who were the property of the state, performed several kinds of service, supposed to be unworthy of freemen. They were, for example, employed as vergers, messengers, scribes, clerks of public works, and inferior servants of the gods. Most of the temples of Greece possessed a great number of slaves, or serfs, who cultivated the sacred domains, exercised various humbler offices of religion, and were ready on all occasions to execute the orders of the priests. At Corinth, where the worship of Aphrodite chiefly prevailed, these slaves consisted almost exclusively of women, who, having on certain occasions burnt frankincense, and offered up public prayers to the goddess, were sumptuously feasted within the precincts of her fane.

Among the Athenians, the slaves of the republic, generally captives taken in war, received a careful education, and were sometimes intrusted with important duties. Out of their number were selected the secretaries, who, in time of war, accompanied the generals and treasurers of the army, and made exact minutes of the expenditure, in order that, when, on their return, these officers should come to render an account of their proceedings, their books might be compared with those of the secretaries. In cases of difficulty, these